


A Rude Awakening

by Findmesomebodytolove



Category: The Godfather (1972 1974 1990), The Godfather - Mario Puzo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-13 23:40:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28536774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Findmesomebodytolove/pseuds/Findmesomebodytolove
Summary: “Oh and Santino, pick up some fresh oranges for your mother would you? She is making your favorite dessert after all.”OrAn AU in which Sonny was the one who got shot at the fruit stand
Relationships: Carlo Rizzi/Connie Corleone Rizzi, Carmela Corleone/Vito Corleone, Kay Adams Corleone/Michael Corleone, Sandra Colombo Corleone/Sonny Corleone, Sonny Corleone/Tom Hagen, Theresa Hagen/Tom Hagen
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	1. After the Meeting with Sollozzo

**Author's Note:**

> I gotta give a shout out to my best friend who supports me in everything, including my fascination with The Godfather, and is acting as my beta reader. 
> 
> I am hoping to update this every Sunday/Monday, if I'm good.

“Oh and Santino, pick up some fresh oranges for your mother would you? She is making your favorite dessert after all.”

Vito waits for no response and leaves Tom and Sonny alone in the meeting room. Ever since they were younger Tom had a sixth sense about knowing what kind of mood Sonny was in and it was no different now. The air seemed to grow thicker with each passing minute of silence. Tom was familiar with this environment, it acted as a crescendo, building until Sonny finally- CRASH 

The sudden act of violence doesn’t surprise Tom at all, but the sound of glass shattering has always put Tom on edge. What does surprise Tom is the fact that Sonny just threw a simple glass, he was betting more that Sonny would throw a chair or two. Without skipping a beat Sonny picks up another glass and throws it in the same place as the first one, where Sollozzo was sitting just a few minutes ago. 

“Jesus Christ Sonny...” 

Sonny runs his hand through his hair and loosens his tie and looks up at Tom. 

“It’s bad enough that he scolded me like a child right in front of you, but now he has me running mindless errands?” He turns around to grab the whiskey and takes a quick swig of it while he waits for Tom’s response. 

Tom gives him a small smile and moves in front of him. He places his hands on Sonny’s shoulders wiping away any lint that made itself there. “You know it ain’t like that Sonny...”

Sonny scowls at him and knocks Tom’s hands off but swiftly grabs a hold of his wrists making Tom look at him. “Really? Then why don’t you tell me what it is like then? Hmm, consigliere?”

Tom just rolls his eyes and breaks free of Sonny’s hold to start fixing his tie. 

“Sonny, I know you like to think everyone tries to hold you back, but everything our father tells you is to help prepare you better for the future.” 

Now it was Sonny’s turn to roll his eyes. “Oh, and what does buying fruit do to prepare me for the future?”

Tom works his way up to Sonny’s hair, trying to make it more presentable after Sonny kept running his hand through it. 

“Think about it Sonny, if your father went to buy fruit the shopkeeper would obviously insist on giving it to him for free. Now if he accepted, then others would see it as your father taking advantage of his power, but if he declines and pays the man then it seems like your father doesn’t respect the man or his generosity.” 

At some point, Tom has stopped fixing his hair and is actively just getting lost in the feeling of it. He goes to tuck hair behind Sonny’s ear like he has done a thousand times with Theresa but retracts his hand quickly once he realizes what he was doing. Tom sees Sonny’s eyes widen in shock but he quickly turns around and coughs awkwardly before he continues to talk.

“But if you go instead and insist on paying, maybe even giving a little extra for the holiday season, it tells people that when you are inevitably in charge that you will still care about the small guys.” Tom turns back around to face Sonny. 

He watches as Sonny lets out a small laugh and small brightly at him, the environment now completely changed. 

“You always have an answer for everything, don’t you? Looks like law school paid off. If you really believe that, why don’t you come along?” He smirks. 

Tom shakes his head “I already promised Theresa that I would go buy the boys’ Christmas presents today. But I’ll see you tonight for dinner right?”

Sonny’s smirk falls and there is a flash of annoyance on his face before he smirks again. “Then you wouldn’t mind picking up presents for my girls, would you? I already got something for Frank and little Santino last week but forgot to get something for the girls and Sandra hasn’t gotten off my case about it since.”

Tom rolls his eyes dramatically. “Leave it to you to forget about your oldest children and still complain about Sandra. Do you even know what they want?” He asks while raising an eyebrow. 

“Contrary to what you think I do listen to my daughters.” Sonny looks at him with heated eyes. “They both want an Effanbee Sweetie Pie doll, you know the one that has the white and pink dress with brown hair.”

Tom sighs “I’ll do my best Sonny but I’m not making any promises, I hear those dolls are pretty sought after. I’ll have the store wrap the gifts and I’ll store them in the same closet Ma used to keep our presents in when we were younger, it’ll save us the hassle of bringing them in the night before like last year.”

Tom puts on his jacket and glances around to make sure he isn’t forgetting anything. He is walking out the door when he turns around. “Hey make sure none of the oranges have any brown spots, Ma will smack you besides the head if you give her those to use.”

Sonny smiles at him as he puts on his own coat. “C’mon, I’m Sonny Corleone. If I get anything less than what I want it's a deathwish.” Tom just shakes his head in disbelief and makes his way to the entrance, all the while he can hear Sonny’s laugh echoing.


	2. Tom gets Kidnapped

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my best friend and I have started reading the Godfather books together and I never realized that there is a three-month jump in between the Sollozzo meeting and Vito getting shot O.o...so I’m just gonna ignore that little tidbit.
> 
> Also I am sorry that I am a day late with the update but to my credit, I did have it written....I just was too lazy to actually upload it. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy!

“Goddamn Sonny…” Tom swears underneath his breath as he walks out of the store, his arms completely full. It took an extra hour to try and haggle the owner to give him the last two Sweetie Pie Dolls. 

“I’m sorry Sir, but I already sold these two dolls and I am just waiting for the customers to pick them up.” The owner seems tired and annoyed but Tom is stubborn when it comes to his   
family. 

“And I’m telling you that I’ll pay you triple if you sell them to me.” His arms have been aching for a while now from holding the small sleigh awkwardly. 

“Sir if you keep bartering with me, I’m going to have to ask you to leave my store.” The man is smug and, wrongly, feels that he has the upper hand. 

It's then when Tom finally snaps, “Listen here, I am buying these dolls for Francesca and Kathyrn Corleone…” The man’s eyes widen when he hears the name and understandably starts to get   
nervous. “...daughters of Santino Corleone who is the son of Vito Corleone. I understand the inconvenience this has on you but I think paying triple the price is fair enough.” Tom sighs. “I’m   
not trying to threaten you with any sort of violence but just know that the Corleone family would appreciate your generosity.” With just the slightest nod of the man, Tom slams the money   
on the counter and leaves. 

He hasn’t eaten all day, and all that Tom wants now is a hot meal and to be around his family. He knows that Theresa will be angry with him that he has taken longer than expected but he can’t bring himself to care right now. He is just about a block from his car when someone grabs his shoulder. Tom turns around and automatically is on edge, its Sollozzo. 

“Don’t be scared Tom. All I want to do is talk to you.” A car pulls up to the pair. And Tom tries to stay calm. “Sorry but I have to decline, I am already late for dinner and the Don is expecting me.” 

He tries to shake the grip Sollozzo has but it just tightens. “That wouldn’t be a problem.” He steps closer and gives him a smile that any civilian would take as polite but Tom knows it to be a threat. “If I wanted to kill you you’d already be dead. Trust me.” And guides him into the car. 

During the drive, Tom is overcome with a sense of dread. He knows that Sollozzo, or anyone else for that matter, would never attempt to kidnap him if they hadn’t already divided the family in some way. Tom pays close attention to his surroundings and notes that Sollozzo is most likely in the car behind him, so even if he got control of the car they still would be able to follow him. 

They finally pull up to an abandoned diner, it is completely dark now, and from Tom’s best guess he is somewhere in Queens. Two men walk him into the diner and gestures for him to sit down, Tom is sitting there waiting for ten minutes before Sollozzo comes in.

“Hey Tom, how are you?” Sollozzo takes his jacket off and offers a hand. Tom gives a terse handshake and a soft glare, his throat is constricting too much to answer properly. Sollozzo then looks at the two men. “Did Sal and Angelo offer you anything?” Tom shakes his head. 

“What are we freakin’ animals? You could’ve at least offered! This is the consigliere to Don Corleone after all…” He takes a break to sip his coffee. “Funnily enough though, I had to call Sonny’s house three times before someone answered, and it was his wife who picked up for cryin’ out loud! Apparently, Sonny is running late and I had to get his wife to pass along my message for me.” He chuckles, but all Tom can feel is dread. Sonny makes it his number one priority to get home on time and spend time with his family.

Tom’s poker face must be slipping because Sollozzo catches it right away. “Not to worry, Sonny’s fine. But I’m sorry to say that the Don has passed.” He fills up a shot of vodka and passes it to Tom who immediately takes it down. He would never say it out loud to a soul but his first immediate reaction was relief, relief that Sonny was okay, but that sense of relief is quickly replaced with fear. Fear for the rest of his family’s safety. 

“Yeah, my men got him just a few minutes after we picked you up, took you long enough at the store by the way.” Sollozzo somehow has the audacity to sound annoyed, just after the fact he admitted to orchestrating his father’s murder. Tom is gripping the shot glass so hard that his knuckles are turning white. He leans back and looks directly at Tom. “So now it’s up to you to make the peace between me and Sonny, because you both were hot for my deal, right?”

Tom is having a hard time thinking, his mind is filled with grief, but he is trying his best to rely on his intuitions. “Sonny’ll come after you with everything he’s got.” He’s praying that Sollozzo doesn’t take it as a threat, lord knows that he hasn’t got any control over his tone or facial expressions right now.

Sollozzo shrugs. “That’ll be his first reaction, sure. But he listens to you Hagen, and you know that since I have the Tattaglia family the other New York Families are gonna support me automatically just to avoid a war.” Tom can’t believe the guts of this man, he has never been a man of violence but this is the first time he has actively wanted to hurt another human. 

Right before he went to law school Sonny gifted him a knife. Nothing extravagant but small and practical, the kind that you strap to your ankle. Sonny showed him how to wear inconspicuously and Tom decided to humor him. He didn’t start wearing it daily until one day when Sonny yelled at him after he noticed that Tom didn’t have it on him.   
The weight of the small knife feels like a brick, taunting him to use it, he is still contemplating it when the grief of losing his late father hits him once again. Tom knows that Vito would rather have him get back to the family then try any grief influenced plan that would end up with him being killed.

Tom focuses back on Sollozzo who apparently didn’t catch Tom’s loss of focus and kept talking. “...you gotta talk to Sonny and those two caporegimes, Tessio and Clemenza.” The emotional fatigue is weighing down on him, but he tries his best to be professional. “I’ll do my best, but not even Sonny will be able to call off Luca Brasi.” 

“Yeah, well, you let me take care of Brasi.” And by that Tom figures he already has. “Just make sure you talk to Sonny and the other brothers, alright?” Tom nods. “I’ll do my best.” 

Sollozzo nods and takes a small sigh of relief that Tom didn’t even notice he was holding. “Good. Now you can go.” He stands and walks with Tom out of the diner. “I don’t like violence, Tom. I’m just a businessman.” When they get outside of the diner a car honks for Sollozzo’s attention and he walks up to the driver’s side and talks with him for a while, too long. Tom is starting to get nervous when he sees Sollozzo hit the roof of the car with his fist leaving a sizable dent and walks back up to him. 

“Seems like I hired goddamn idiots for hitmen who thought shooting Sonny wouldn’t be any different than shooting the Don. Fucking morons shoot him five times and still, it didn’t even kill him.” Sollozzo looks at him closely. “Tell Don Corleone that letting you go is a sign of good faith between the two of us. And that contact him soon to discuss a new deal.” 

All Tom can do is nod and get into the car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all don’t mind me following the movie structure. I promise that there will be new plot lines later down the road!

**Author's Note:**

> Sonny’s favorite dessert is Sicillian Whole Orange Cake, I don’t know if it was popular in the 1940s with Italian immigrants but it was one of the first options that popped up when I searched ‘italian desserts that use oranges’ and it looks DELICIOUS. Here is the link for the recipe: https://www.christinascucina.com/sicilian-orange-cake-using-entire-orange-peel-juice-pulp/
> 
> I did a lot of research to see what kind of toys the twins might like and I almost decided use Slinkys (which a small inventory was first sold in 1945) but decided that a gender normative would probably fit better. So a doll was an obvious choice, but I did spend WAY too much time trying to find which doll was most popular but couldn’t find any concrete results so I just picked one close to 1945, 1942 to be exact, and that I thought was cute. Which made me discover how much I hate baby doll websites, fun fact the Effanbee Sweetie Pie doll is described to have “flirty eyes” which yikes. 
> 
> Also, I do believe Sonny absolutely loves and adores all of his children but I could also see if he had some subconscious preferential treatment to his sons, like Vito was with Michael.


End file.
